


The Diner

by Bolt41319



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, InspiredbyOQ
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-18
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2019-07-13 20:12:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16025159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bolt41319/pseuds/Bolt41319
Summary: Robin watches the mayor walk in every day and drink her coffee alone, until one day she shows up with a new breakfast date.A first-curse fic inspired by @stargazingM31's incredible manip.Written for #InspiredbyOQ Day 2





	The Diner

Robin had never actually met the mayor of Storybrooke, but he wanted to. She as an intriguing woman, with striking dark hair and beautiful eyes. He watched her, not in a way to be creepy, but just enough that he knew that every morning she came into Grannys, sat by herself in the corner of the counter, drank a cup of black coffee and ate her breakfast alone. 

He’d never seen her talk to anyone except Granny and Ruby, and never more than a simple  _ hello _ , some talk about the weather, and her order. Not once had she came in with a friend or shared a laugh over something trivial. She just sat and quietly ate her food, her eyes rarely leaving the newspaper a book she carried around with her. 

His son, though, had become infatuated with the mayor. Roland, an always kind young man with a heart bigger than his body, had made it his goal to get the mayor to smile. He started small- picking a flower for her in the morning and running it over to her when she would walk through the door. She would always smile, but the real kind of smile that showed she actually appreciated it, and give him a light  _ thank you _ that made him blush for days. He would rush back over to their booth, clambering in to tell him what she said. He moved onto drawing pictures for her in school a few days after he gave her his first flower, pictures of sunshines and things he did throughout his day, and she would listen as he explained his pictures in all too many details. 

He hadn’t spoken a word to her, but was falling for her more and more everyday, until done day, she disappears. 

No morning coffee in the diner; no chats with Roland about flowers or drawings. 

He could see that his son was missing her. He would stare at the door, hope etched across his face whenever the bell would ring only to fall as another person would walk through. He would pick at his eggs, little hand itching toward his pocket that held the gifts she had been missing. 

One snowy day they walk back toward the diner, hands linked as Roland excitedly tells a story about his friends from school on the playground. The bell rings overhead as they walk in, and her dark hair in a booth catches both of their attention. 

But this time, she’s not alone. 

She’s incredibly put together, but the frantic look on her face and the pile of baby supplies on the table tells him otherwise. 

There’s a little boy, wrapped in a pale blue onesie and nestled into a car seat next to her. She has one hand lightly resting on the boys stomach as she leans in, whispering to the boy with the brightest smile he’s seen splashed across her face. His little arms are flailing, a toothless smile and an infectious giggle radiating from the seat. 

Roland rushes to her and climbs into their usual booth, bouncing in his seat as he rambles on about how much he’s missed her while pulling out all of the picture’s he’d drawn her. 

He watches in awe as she turns and gives his son the attention he so craves, taking a moment from the little boy in her booth to let his own son shower her with drawings of them in various places. She reacts to each of them differently, giving them each praise and recognition. When Roland finally looks down at the baby curled up in the car seat, fist smushed into his mouth, she turns and makes eye contact with him for the first time. 

She’s incredible. 

She’s stunning in every way, so poised and perfect and he knows that he must look like an idiot when he lifts a hand and gives her a little wave. She waves back though, giving him a slight nod toward their table before turning back to Roland, who has now practically climbed into her booth to play with the baby. 

He makes it to the booth and sits down, listening to Roland as he explains how the baby, whom he learns is named Henry, is the mayor’s new son, and is officially his new best friend. 

They find themselves at the the diner each day, settled into their usual booths until one day Roland decides he wants to sit with them. He bounds up the steps of the diner, rushing in with the her name spilling from his lips. Robin watches as she collects him into her lap for a big hug, listening carefully as he asks her if they can join them. 

She looks to him, and with a formative nod and a cheeky grin they settle up across the booth from her and her son, sharing laughs over coffee and chocolate milk. 

Months of daily diner meetings pass, as snow melts and leaves spring onto trees. They watch her son grow out of his car seat and into a highchair, his personality pouring out through his contagious laughter.

His son, however, remains the same, though it stays unbeknownst to him and the rest of the town. Days pass and as Henry grows, they all remain the same, except for one thing. 

He’s in love with her. 

Diner dates turn into trips to the park, movie nights curled up on the floor of her living room, trips to the ice cream parlor. In the night, long after their kids are asleep, they stay up talking about everything. Regina confides in him her fears of being a mother, how her own twisted childhood paved a war against herself. Nights filled with self-loathing and hours spent staring at her sleeping son, hoping that she can give him everything she never had. He tells her the story of Roland’s mother, and the stemming worry that Roland will grow up deprived of a mother’s affection that he can’t give. 

That night is the first time he kisses her, a slow deep kiss that ends with her straddling his lap and his hands caressing her bare back. 

They start dating that week. Roland and Henry go to the diner to spend the evening with Granny while he and Regina head to The Rabbit Hole, trading sweet bourbon-flavored kisses over dinner and a riveting game of pool. He walks her home that night, intent on leaving her with a kiss at her doorstep until she tangles her fingers with his and tugs him slowly back into her house. A promise of coffee is long forgotten when he presses her against her front door and drops to his knees, worshiping her until she cries out his name. 

The next morning he wakes alone in her bed, confusion and worry coursing through his veins until she pads back in the room, wearing only his button-down and carrying two cups of coffee. 

He stretches across the bed and sits up to take the coffee from her, sipping slowly. She’s staring at him, and he can’t quite understand why until there is a flash of recognition across his face. When he finally looks back up at her he sees the tears streaming down her cheeks, apologies spilling from her lips for all that she’d done, begging for forgiveness. 

His memories flood back into his mind, pieces slowly fitting together with the realization of who she is and what she’s done. 

He still loves her though. 

Through the tears dripping from her cheeks he presses sweet kisses to her lips, whispering words of understanding and forgiveness between her hiccuping sobs. 

They recognize the inevitable will happen one day, their beautiful bubble will pop and a world of hate will surround them. He’s ready, though, when it does. He whispers promises late into their nights of his will to defend her choices, to help people see the difference in who she is now from who she was when they came here all those years ago. 

Years pass and their family grows stronger, all while her son grows and his remains the same. 

He knows of their lost history, the endless possibilities of how their lives could have been. They agree though, that though soulmates they wouldn’t go back- couldn’t imagine their lives without their sons and the wonders of indoor plumbing. 

He proposes when the boys are both 3. Henry and Roland insist on helping him pop the question, and so with carefully planning and help from her assistant, she meets them at the diner unsuspecting of a night that will change their lives. 

He and the boys stand under the twinkling lights of the entrance, dressed in their finest suits. Their sons stand proud at his side, little chests puffed out and faces lit with joy as she rounds the corner and her tears fall. 

His love for her pours out through his words, expressing and reiterating the fact that he’ll never leave. She’s the only mother his son will ever know, as he is a father to her son. His love for her stretches over worlds they could only imagine, and with a drop to one knee he asks her to spend the rest of their lives together, through the bad and the good. 

The boys cheering fades behind them when their lips meet in a heated kiss, and with a flash they feel magic pulsing through them, a bright light emitting from their bodies to swallow their world whole. 

They pull away from one another slowly, the creeping feeling that they’re being watched dawns on her first as she realizes one thing. 

They remember. 

The bell of the broken clocktower echoes above them, ringing out for the first time in years. 


End file.
